Stop Anorexia Now!

Ron Brown, Author of The Body Fat Guide

ANOREXIA, clinically referred to as anorexia nervosa, is an eating disorder
based on the drive to be thin. The anorexic has an obsessive fear of being
fat. Anorexics are well below normal weight and often have disturbed body
images that cause them to see themselves as being fat, even if they are down
to skin and bones. They usually have disturbed eating patterns that may include
prolonged crash dieting, bingeing and fasting. In addition, anorexics may
purge their bodies of food by self-induced vomiting and/or by over-exercising.

Ninety percent of anorexia sufferers are women. For every 200 women in the
general population, one to six will be affected by anorexia. Five to 18 percent
of these affected women will die from this disorder. It is the leading cause
of death among people seeking psychiatric help.

Although fewer in number, men also suffer from eating disorders such as anorexia
and bulimia. Studies show that the clinical features of eating disorders
in men and women are the same. Men with eating disorders share the same beliefs
and attitudes toward body weight and body shape as do women with eating
disorders. The only differences found between men and women with eating disorders
are in motivating causes.

Emphasis on leanness in athletics is a strong contributing factor to the
occurrence of anorexia and purging among men as well as among some athletic
women. In general, men tend to develop eating disorders due to concerns about
health and fitness; women, due more to concerns about appearance and social
acceptance. As a group, women are more receptive to the concept of dieting
than men, which may account for the greater number of women suffering from
eating disorders.

Although anorexia nervosa has been recorded as a mental disorder in medical
books for many years, it wasnt until the 1960s, with its emphasis
on thin-as-a-rail fashion, that awareness of the problem starting becoming
prevalent.

Prolonged dieting on ultra-low calories can actually be the cause of the
mental and emotional suffering seen in anorexia and can even lead to suicidal
tendencies. The famous 1950 University of Minnesota Study demonstrated the
devastating effect of malnutrition on the mental state of healthy volunteers
who were subjected to a prison-camp diet. Note that malnutrition and muscle
atrophy are not the same as low body fat. The assertion that low body fat
in itself causes illnesses such as osteoporosis and endocrine problems is
invalidated by many examples of healthy, well nourished, normal weight
individuals who eat balanced diets and maintain low body fat percentages.

Since body fat percentages are expressed as a ratio between body fat levels
and lean body mass levels, the body fat percentages of anorexics are not
always as low as one may suspect, mainly because their lean body mass levels
are also low. Gaining healthy lean body mass would actually lower their body
fat percentage. Losing even more lean body mass would raise their body fat
percentage, but this is obviously not the solution to the anorexic's problem.
The fact is that low body fat percentage is not the anorexic's problem; the
problem is their low level of lean body mass and malnutrition!

Depriving oneself of essential nutrients for a prolonged period may eventually
drive the anorexic uncontrollably toward food and set off a binge. This may
then result in a continued pattern of yo-yoing between fasting and bingeing.
Anorexia allowed to progress to advanced stages requires emergency medical
attention. The patient may be fed intravenously, and in some cases feeding
may take place through a thoracic tube. Disturbances in tissue electrolyte
balance need to be corrected, and weight gain is indicated before the patient
is discharged. Unfortunately, if the patient has not received the proper
counseling about the cause of their anorexic behavior, they are at risk of
repeating the behavior.

Is anorexia a mental disorder or simply errant behavior? While noting that
some anorexics may also be suffering from mental disorders, it is the
authors opinion that anorexia is a lifestyle behavior, adopted in response
to pressure from peers, parents, coaches and cultural images, and based upon
a central misconception. The misconception is that reducing ones body
weight by crash dieting or by prolonged dieting will improve body composition;
that being thin is the same as being lean. In fact, the reality is that one
can be large and have very low body fat, or one may be small and still be
fat and flabby!

The anorexic often does not distinguish losses in body weight from losses
in body fat. Anorexics succeed in reducing their body weight well below normal,
but much of this is due to having reduced lean body mass levels. See: Minimum Lean
Body Mass Levels. If a person believes that simply reducing body
weight by crash dieting, purging or fasting will improve body composition,
it can easily be shown that this is not the case. In fact, it can be shown
that losing lean body mass makes one flabbier. Ones percentage of body
fat increases! Anorexics may have loose skin resulting from the loss of muscle
mass and tone. This sagging skin makes it appear to them that they are still
fat and often causes them to continue on dieting. In very extreme cases they
may even suffer from kwashiorkor, which is an impoverishment of blood plasma
proteins that causes disturbances in osmotic pressure. Water leaks into the
abdominal tissue causing abdominal distension and gives the impression to
the anorexic that they are fatter.

The anorexic may be alarmed at how quickly their weight rises if they attempt
to feed themselves normally. This is often due to their depleted muscle mass
replenishing with water and glycogen. Athletes call this rapid increase in
muscular weight carbohydrate loading.

People who attempt to persuade the anorexic to simply gain weight must be
able to provide the anorexic with a method that assures mainly muscle gain,
not just body fat gain! It may be helpful for the anorexic to analyze changes
in their body composition as they gain weight. Then, as long as they are
not overeating, they will be assured that they are not gaining much body
fat. Gaining muscle tissue will actually lower their percentage body fat!
See: Percentage
Body Fat Page. Filling out their muscle mass will make their skin
tighter and their bodies toned. They will actually look leaner and healthier.

A successful approach to recovery from anorexia involves dealing with issues
of body image, body weight and food. Like the general public, the anorexic
may believe in many myths and misconceptions about dieting and body composition,
but often with much more severe consequences. Helping the anorexic build
up their strength through proper diet and exercise and educating them about
changes in their body composition is important.

Abuse issues, control issues, the desire to escape or disappear; these are
also important factors that influence and contribute to the main cause of
anorexia. But many people have these issues and do not develop anorexia,
and not all who are anorexic have these issues. Treatments that emphasize
secondary issues such as abuse, control and escape issues, may not sufficiently
deal directly with the dieting and body weight misconceptions of the anorexic.
A patient may never fully recover without correcting secondary causes, but
anorexia is primarily an energy imbalance problem, i.e. energy imbalance
is present in all cases, all the time. Anorexics will never recover without
addressing this primary cause.

Drug treatments have limited value in anorexia and often exacerbate the suffering
of the anorexic in the long run. Drugs do not correct the cause of anorexic
behavior.

LESS THAN 1/3 OF ANOREXICS FULLY RECOVER WITH CONVENTIONAL TREATMENT. Without
fully understanding how what they eat affects their weight, the treated patient
may continue to fear and obsess over food and fat. Treatments that encourage
anorexics to ignore their weight do not appear to provide satisfactory long-term
solutions. Therapy that emphasizes body acceptance alone often does not teach
the anorexic how to control their weight and reshape their body with proper
diet and activity. All of this only succeeds in moving the anorexic around
the problem instead of helping them solve it. This is why some anorexics
may relapse after treatment or continue to feel overly anxious about their
weight and eating. Many treated patients simply slip into a benign state:
not harming themselves, but not totally free from the fear of food and fat,
and still believing in the misconceptions about dieting and their bodies.

According to some experts, anorexia nervosa is caused by feelings of self-hatred
and unworthiness. Not eating is supposed to be self-inflicted punishment.
Purging is seen as relieving oneself of inner negative feelings. This type
of logic is often associated with low self-esteem and feelings of guilt seen
in victims of abuse. These experts may be unintentionally mixing up and confusing
abuse issues with more ordinary feelings of not liking what ones body
looks like, and of feeling guilty about eating food.

People suffering from poor health and depression may have no desire to eat,
whereas the anorexic intentionally fights off hunger because they fear fat.
One should not confuse comparing weight loss resulting from general depression
or other diseases with anorexia nervosa. The situations are often different
and should be carefully labeled as being distinct from each other, even though
the patient may have combinations of all of the above. Abuse issues should
be sorted out and addressed individually.

Anorexics reward themselves by losing weight. They enjoy food and are often
hungry, but they deny themselves food in order to achieve a loftier perfectionist
vision of being supremely thin. If they didnt enjoy eating, they
wouldnt feel the need to purge their bodies of the food they have eaten.
Purging is a technique that one learns from other eating disorder sufferers,
often from other patients in a treatment center!

Anorexics are proud of their weight loss achievement and do not see the actual
effects on their bodies in the same way as others. They think they have found
the quickest and most efficient way to achieve their body weight goals. If
dieting and exercise is good, the high-achieving profile of the anorexic
causes them to reason that even more dieting and exercise is better!
Unfortunately, this is not so.

The fact that the majority of anorexics exercise on a regular basis seems
to contradict the premise that they suffer from low levels of self-esteem.
Traditionally, people with low self-esteem hardly bother with exercise.

In summation, the author believes that anorexia is a contradictory, misguided
solution to the anorexics fears and desires. It often achieves the
opposite of what the anorexic originally intended. Thin is not the same as
lean. Sacrificing muscle leaves one fatter.

The anorexic does not have to abandon their quest for a beautiful body in
order to recover. With treatment that includes education about the effect
of dieting on body composition, the anorexic can recover by choosing a more
efficient and safe way to achieve their body weight goals. A complete method
on how to safely and effectively reshape ones body while helping to
avoid anorexia and other eating disorders is contained in the book,
The
Body Fat Guide, by this author.

Finally, it is extremely important that people seek out and consult
closely with an expert who is knowledgeable in this area.It is extremely
important that anorexics receive treatment under qualified supervision!